Trajectories of internalizing symptoms among autistic and nonautistic youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Talena C Day, Alan Gerber, Morgan L McNair and 2 others
PMID 37222243WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic youth reported lower anxiety and depression from June to December 2020, while nonautistic youth showed no change.
Parents did not report these decreases in their autistic children. Baseline symptom levels were similar between groups.
Key findings
01Self-reported internalizing symptoms, including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and depression, decreased over time in autistic youth but remained stable in nonautistic youth.
02Parent-reported internalizing symptoms did not change over time for either autistic or nonautistic youth.
03Baseline internalizing symptoms did not differ between autistic and nonautistic groups in either self-report or parent-report.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study only included verbal autistic youth without intellectual disability, so results may not apply to nonverbal individuals or those with cognitive impairments. Data collection began in June 2020, missing the initial acute stress of the pandemic in spring 2020. The nonautistic comparison group was small (25 participants), which may affect the stability of estimates. Participants were from a specific geographic area (New York) and recruited from prior studies, limiting generalizability. There was a discrepancy between self-report and parent-report findings, with parents not reporting the symptom decreases seen by the youth.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and other U.S. government sources.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that the decrease in self-reported anxiety and depression in autistic youth reflects a general improvement in mental health for all autistic individuals. The study excluded nonverbal youth and those with intellectual disabilities, and parents did not report these improvements, suggesting the benefit may be specific to verbal adolescents in low-social-demand contexts.